SK Hynix Q3 Profit Beats Forecasts as AI Memory Demand Drives $75 Billion Shareholder Pledge

In brief

• SK Hynix reported record third-quarter revenue and operating profit that beat analyst forecasts.
• Operating profit rose 632.1% year on year to 83.33 trillion won.
• The company plans to return $75 billion to shareholders, with more than $25 billion in dividends and buybacks announced so far.

Record quarter driven by AI memory

SK Hynix posted third-quarter revenue of 104.62 trillion won ($78.86 billion), above the 98.34 trillion won that analysts had expected, according to LSEG SmartEstimates (SK Hynix third-quarter profit sharply beats estimates on AI memory boost – CNBC). Operating profit reached 83.33 trillion won, compared with a forecast of 76.72 trillion won. Operating profit rose 632.1% from a year earlier.

The margin was the main talking point. Company slides showed revenue topping 100 trillion won with an operating margin near 80% (SK hynix Q3 2026 slides: revenue tops 100T, 80% margin on AI boom – Investing.com), a level that reflects how much pricing power the company holds in high-bandwidth memory used in AI accelerators (SK Hynix profits soar amid roaring AI chip demand – Financial Times).

Shareholder payouts

Alongside the earnings, the company announced stock buybacks and dividends totalling more than $25 billion. Its longer-term plan goes further: management said it will return $75 billion to shareholders (SK Hynix Q3 profit beats expectations, vows $75 bln in shareholders returns – Investing.com).

Market reaction

Shares rose on the news. Asian equity markets rallied in early trading on Wednesday, with traders citing SK Hynix's results as a boost to the AI trade ahead of a Federal Reserve decision (Asia stocks rally as SK Hynix earnings boost AI trade; Fed decision ahead – Investing.com). Investors had already bid up the stock in the prior session (Why is SK Hynix stock surging today? – Investing.com).

Key figures

| Metric | Actual (Q3) | Expected | |---|---|---| | Revenue (trillion won) | 104.62 | 98.34 | | Operating profit (trillion won) | 83.33 | 76.72 |

The gap between actual and expected operating profit is the widest of the figures reported, and it came in a quarter when the company was already benefiting from heavy spending on AI infrastructure across South Korea.